Choccie Run
by Somebody's Dark Angel
Summary: X knows from experience what secrets accompanied flushed cheeks and heaving breathing, so when Nav returns from a 'choccie run' without any chocolate, she gets suspicious. NaBomb.


**Choccie Run**

"I'm going to get some choccie," Nav stated, swinging down from her rack.

X blinked at the abruptness of Nav's decision; when she had entered their cabin a few moments earlier, Nav was lying on her rack with a novel, apparently content in her reading. But the second X started to get ready for bed Nav snapped her book shut and announced her departure.

"Get me some?" She didn't move from her position at the sink, merely turned around to watch Nav pull on her boots, the navigator nodding her assent as she strode out the door.

It wasn't like Nav to leave things out of place, thus X instantly noticed the rather thick book lying carelessly atop the pillow. The mostly-black cover intrigued her, and she struggled with herself as she closed the bathroom door. Normally X ducked to her own rack in an attempt to offer her roommate as much privacy as possible in the limited space. However this time she couldn't quell her curiosity, moving towards the book as if it would answer all of the questions which had recently arisen in her head.

X noticed that the personal touches which had occupied their cabin on the Fremantle Hammersley were conspicuously absent here, and wondered if this was a recent development. Had the walls of Nav's personal space really been this bare the entire time they'd been on this new ship? Surely she would have noticed it before? The only adornment was a picture of the crew, from a celebration X couldn't recall, despite the photographic proof she had attended the barbecue.

Picking up the book and turning it over, X chuckled and shook her head. _Breaking Dawn._ Of course. Nav was forever babbling about the "incredible love story between a vampire and an ordinary girl", and X had never seen her as excited as she was just before this book - the last of the series - had been released. It had been getting to the point where X was seriously considering reading the series, just so she could understand the discussion about "newborns" and "imprinting", when Nav stopped talking about it all of a sudden. Well, X amended in her head, it wasn't so much that she'd stopped all conversation about it, but that she'd taken her dialogue elsewhere.

"If you want to read the series, may I suggest you start with the first book?" Nav's amused voice startled X and she instinctively dropped the novel, cursing the silent hinges of this new ship.

Seemingly unconcerned by the fact X had been perusing her personal belongings, Nav moved next to X and reached to pull _Twilight_ from its spot in her bookshelf. With her friend right next to her, X couldn't help but notice the slight flush of her cheeks and that her breathing was heavier than normal. A moment later she realised that the navigator's hands were empty.

_Hey, where's my chocolate?_ She kept the question to herself, not quite sure she was ready to hear the answer. On the one hand she didn't want to hear that her friendly request had been forgotten, but neither did she want to see the lie in Nav's eyes; she knew from experience what secrets accompanied flushed cheeks and heavy breathing.

Her brain was still racing with the implications as she lay in bed, staring up at the slats of Nav's rack. She rubbed a hand over her face, thinking about the past few weeks…and suddenly realised that Nav's midnight disappearances had greatly increased recently. The sound of her friend's breathing wasn't helping her come up with innocent reasons either; far from slowing as Nav went into a deep sleep, her breaths came faster and faster, and X could have sworn she even heard a moan, though it sounded muffled, as if Nav had pressed a pillow over her face.

Making a mental note to bring it up the next time Nav announced a choccie run, X turned onto her side and stared at the wall, blocking out the noises around her by sheer will. Her last thought before she drifted off to sleep was that her friend had more guts that she did, blatantly disregarding the fraternisation rules and planning secret trysts whilst on board the ship.

……………………

The next few days were incredibly hectic, thus confronting Nav completely slipped from X's mind. That is, until she returned from her early morning watch and found Nav's rack empty at 0410 hours.

Searching for her wasn't a conscious decision, but before X could process the thought she was outside their cabin and thinking about the best place for a late night rendezvous. Given the late hour most areas of the ship were deserted, providing her plenty of time to think about what she would say if – when – she found Nav. When it came down to it she was mostly disappointed in the younger officer for giving into temptation while they were both on board. Okay, so their feelings for one another weren't exactly a secret, but they'd been much more subtle in their flirting since ET's near-death experience. _Seems they just took it to a more private setting_, X thought as she checked the ward room and the ship's office. The reason behind Nav's trips to 'the galley' had been a lie, so X assumed the location itself had also been false.

She was just moving to go downstairs to check the lower decks when she heard a noise. Stopping in her tracks, she listened carefully until it came again. A giggle, quickly cut off. Coming from the galley.

Turning on her heel, X stalked back up the corridor, only to hesitate when she reached the galley door. Should she yank it open and confront whoever it was? A more prudent approach would be to confirm her suspicions, not go off half-cocked. So instead she turned the handle as quietly as she could, so as not to disturb those inside.

Once the door was open wide enough, X peered in, only just managing to stifle a disappointed sigh. Nav was in the galley, arms wrapped around someone whose identity was blocked from X's viewpoint. A moment later the pair turned to present their profiles to her, and X's mouth dropped open in shock. As her brain processed this new information she catalogued the differences that she should have noticed; the red-brown hair, small hands, similar height…

Nav's companion was Bomber.

X was frozen in place, unable to do anything but watch as Bomber pinned Nav to the bench and kissed a trail down her jaw. Nav threw her head back, narrowly avoiding whacking it against the cupboard, and laced her fingers through red-brown hair. Bomber must have hit a ticklish place, for a moment later Nav let out a giggle. The sound had barely reached X's ears when it ceased, cut off by Bomber's hand over Nav's mouth.

"Shhh!" The chef admonished with a wide grin, chocolate eyes sparkling with mischief.

The amusement was reflected in Nav's eyes, "You know I'm ticklish there, stop it!"

"Sorry." Bomber replied, though she didn't sound the least bit apologetic.

They stood there, arms wrapped around on another's waists, and X was surprised at the affection she could see, even from the other side of the room. The ease with which they acted, the familiarity of knowing one another's ticklish spots; X knew this wasn't a fling, there were real feelings involved.

Nav lifted a hand to cup Bomber's cheek, staring deep into her eyes before pulling her back in for another kiss. The reverence of the touch caused a wave of emotion to flow through X, and she pulled her eyes away from the scene in the galley, leaning against the wall outside as she struggled to identify the feeling. _I wish I had someone who looked at me like that_, the thought ran through her head and suddenly it clicked. She was jealous.

No-one had looked at her like that since M…no, she wouldn't think about that. Yes, they were breaking the rules, but she couldn't bring herself to confront them. She knew it wouldn't go any further than the moments she was stealing from them. So instead she turned back to peer through the crack once more. Voyeurism was more alluring than she'd expected.


End file.
